CAR Magazine Subaru BRZ long-term test review

[Hachiroku]

Subaru BRZ (2013) long-term test review

Via: http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/Drives/...m-test-reivew/

By the CAR road-test team
Long Term Tests
21 October 2013 09:00

Month 3 running a Subaru BRZ: the Scooby shows up flaws in a Porsche 996 Turbo, but infotainment grates

Our Porsche 911 50th Anniversary celebrations showed just how good the BRZ is. How? Well, I was given the task of collecting the 996 Turbo on my way home, trading it for the BRZ. You’d think the 911 would make the BRZ feel soft, wouldn’t you? Not so. The Porsche, carrying the baggage of 110,000 miles, felt doughy, the steering light, and the throttle flimsy after the firm Subaru. I loved driving the 911, but am just as satisfied having the BRZ in my drive – both have cred with the right people, only the Porsche has some with the wrong kind…

Yet it’s not all praise for the Subaru. The ‘infotainment’ system is the worst I’ve experienced in a new car. Its layout is horrible and unintuitive: changing stations is a chore, and the iPod connectivity requires two cables, one of which easily falls out, while the sound is as 1980s as the centre screen looks. The nav’s horrendous, warning to turn in ‘two-tenths of a mile’ and now has switched itself off with no explanation. Without a smartphone, the BRZ would be lost somewhere, having run out fuel, its other great vice. So while getting lost on winding back roads still brings a smile to my face, I’m beginning to wonder: is the BRZ a one-trick pony? I’m still waiting to see its second act.

By Damion Smy

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Month 2 running a Subaru BRZ: on track expolits vs the Ford Focus ST

I should have seen it coming. Two hours into our Rockingham trackday and Mark ‘I really hate the Focus ST’ Walton and I both end up in the paddock at the exact same time. These little coincidences happen, of course, but Mark was right there, hanging about like those blokes you see on CCTV striding backwards and forwards past the bike rack in a slightly agitated manner.

‘Hey Ben,’ he says. ‘Fancy a go in the Focus ST? You should have a go. See what you think. It’s er… Here are the keys. I’ll take these keys…’

It was like that trick where you give the cashier £20 for a 50p chocolate bar, take the change, then tell them you’ve found 50p after all and ask for the £20 back. Before I’d figured out what was going on, a distant squealing of tyres alerted me to a tiny, Subaru-BRZ-shaped blob at the very back of the circuit.

But I had a Focus ST in front of me and at least three laps’ worth of fuel – Rockingham’s International Super Sportscar Circuit is 1.94 miles long – so out I went. What. A. Mess. The brake pedal was instantly on the floor with almost no impact on my forward momentum. And the ST either oversteered easily when you backed off on corner entry (good fun), or understeered wildly when you got back on the throttle on the way back out (not fun). Now, we’ve used this ST at Anglesey and at Rockingham before, and both times it felt significantly less sorted and less intuitive on track than the Toyota GT86 or Subaru BRZ twins. But this was a new low. It felt broken.

So I came in and watched Mark. And watched. Eventually he returned, and I immediately took the BRZ straight back out. Despite its pounding, it still felt pretty fresh, staying flat through corners, steering beautifully, and constantly itching to oversteer, something that – when scratched – earned me two black flags in quick succession, a personal best.

To me, though, the BRZ feels like a starting point. I want stickier, more precise tyres, I want a more controlled, more mechanical feeling from the rear diff and I want better brakes. Do that and I’d be very happy. Increase the power and stiffen the suspension and you’d have a proper weapon on your hands – and a proper effort to get Walton off your case.

By Ben Barry

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Month 1 running a Subaru BRZ: we welcome the long-awaited rear-drive Scooby to CAR

Tell me if you think that my first drive of the BRZ isn’t fair – honestly. I’ve subjected the Silver Sube to the toughest, most hospitable environment, one that is as far from the engineers’ minds as chastity is from a lead singer – the British motorway. Yep, 70-odd miles of coarse, near-straight blacktop with long sweepers teasing the BRZ’s brilliant steering into thinking that it might – just might – have an opportunity to impress me with a ferocious front-end bite on turn in.

Turns out that my entire 81-mile commute (that’s each way) is more than enough to reacquaint myself with the BRZ. The last time I drove one was at the Millbrook proving ground last year. Since then, Subaru seems to have lost out in the brand/image perception wars, with the BRZ’s close cousin, the Toyota GT86, taking all the glory for the hard work done by Subaru.

If it proves anything it’s that the prowess of Subaru – as evinced by oddities like the ’80s Vortex and its ’90s follow-up, the SVX – is still chiefly engineering based. The BRZ is no luxo coupe but its tough looks have plenty of appeal. I love its pumped haunches and the silhouette it creates in the supermarket car park as I walk back to it at night. I seem to be stopping off for Bonox* more frequently these days (‘Yes darling, we’ve run out again – I’ll have to pop to Tesco’).

Our BRZ is the SE Lux model, which gives you a limited-slip diff, keyless entry, heated Alcantara and leather seats as well as an upgraded audio system with USB port. There are only two options available with this car: sat-nav (£1000) and metallic paint (£500) and we’ve said yes to both. This brings the base price of £26,495 up to £27,995 on the road.

Beyond the bullish stance and eye-catching looks there’s a few too many clues that this isn’t an expensive car. Doors close with a slightly tinny feel and while I love the red stitching on the seats, handbrake lever, gear knob and perfectly-sized steering wheel, the dash finish looks cheap. The Pioneer-branded head unit looks as aftermarket as the decorative silver panels above the glovebox. One passenger mistook it for the glovebox itself and found them worryingly easy to remove.

The BRZ, though, is all about balance. There are actually a few roundabouts connecting the motorways on my journey and that’s all it takes to show the car’s brilliant turn-in, superbly weighted steering and ability to power up and cover ground rather quickly. I’d love more low-down torque, especially in traffic, to avoid the black cabs which seem to randomly fall out of the sky in front of you in London, but the sound of the 2.0-litre boxer engine is hard-working and strong. It’s hardly the menacing bark of a WRX – so I can’t channel Colin McRae’s ’95 WRC-winning Impreza – but it’s a refreshing sound in a world becoming dominated by down-sized turbo fours. It’s atmo all the way, here.

The BRZ is balanced in terms of power and handling, price and spec, but can it be both a chuckable, weekend party animal yet also provide the calm and comfort required for a weekly nine-to-five? Is it great on the Nürburgring but not the M25? Our research is ongoing with the latter, so now we need to head to the ’Ring. But that’s for another time…

*That’s Aussie Bovril, for you non-Antipodeans

By Damion Smy